Expo 2005

Okay, so this post has been a long time in coming - I should have posted it about two and a half weeks ago! Well, on the 24th of August I went to the World Exposition 2005 here in Aichi. Francis (right), a co-would-be-Fuji-climber and good friend, and I decided to take this time to catch the Expo before it ends at the end of September. This year's theme is "Nature's Wisdom" and the national pavilions (buildings/stands/shops) are supposed to take this theme and expand upon it in their displays.

Here's the thing about the Expo: while it's set over several acres of beautifully landscaped walkways and structures in the open air, it's summertime in Aichi - you need to walk everywhere. Temps were in the mid-30s C, or approximately 90-100F. I was carrying a backpack containing my camera, some notebooks, room for souvenirs, and plenty of space after my 2-liter bottle of water was confiscated (you can't blame a brother for trying); and about ten minutes into our excursion my shirt was plastered to my back by sweat. Also about ten minutes into our excursion, we decided that the Canadian pavilion was probably a good bet for air conditioning, so we aimed ourselves at the giant red maple leaf for first stop.

Here's something else about the Expo: many pavilions, both national and corporate, have huge queues - lines that stretch for thousands of miles, out of Japan, across the ocean on specially designed floating bridges, through China, and back again. The most heavily packed queues are usually "The World of Tomorrow"-esque corporate pavilions like Toyota, Hitachi, and Mitsubishi, and cultural giants like the U.S., England, and Australia. Pavilions serving beer are also very popular ("You want to wait how long to see Belgium?").

Canada's pavilion, however, did not have a time-devouring monstrous queue; making it a perfect candidate for "first pavilion of the day". And not only did they have a wonderful little presentation on the natural and cultural diversity in Canada AND air conditioning for the full twenty minutess, they also spoke English. Sweet!

After Canada, we decided to hit up the Asian end of the park, including China, Bhutan (left), Sri Lanka, The Stans and Mongolia, followed by the Middle East (most notably Iran, for Andy), and India, before heading off for lunch. The "temporary" building that we found restaurants in was three stories tall, contained a wine-tasting center and a fully-air conditioned bank with ATMs. Francis got some dangerously good looking curry, while I had a pretty decent kebab.

We did NOT taste any wine. I blame Francis.

Next stop: Europe. Remember those horrible, multinational. multilane queues I was telling you about? Well Europe has them. So after walking through the area, stopping to see the U.K. (for Francis, who got a little misty-eyed :P), Ukraine (for me), and Belgium (for beer), we decided that Europe really wasn't that big of a priority at that point, and decided to go check out the African pavilions nearby. On the way we stopped at the Scandinavian pavilion, which was pretty neat, but looked strangely like an Ikea ad with extra culture added. After that, we decided that we really needed to eat more, so I got some green tea-flavored soft serve and Francis picked up grilled lamb. Wow, nothing says "international gathering" like green tea ice cream and meat on a stick.

Anyway, we went to the African pavilions - three large buildings with many nations represented inside. Francis decided he STILL wasn't full, so he stopped to grab another bite, and I wandered through the buildings, checked out the Gabon pavilion (for Joy), and stopped to see "Lucy" - purportedly the oldest humanoid skeleton in existence. She looked very dead.

Another pavilion I wanted to see, but didn't/couldn't wait in line for was Egypt. Egypt somehow managed to get it's own building, which was decorated to look like a restored ancient temple, complete with hieroglyphics mythological dieties, and pretty colors. I did get some pictures though; this one's for Mel.

After that, we decided that we really did, indeed want to see some of the western European contries, if at all possible. Italy, Spain, France and Germany all met at one point, and were all surrounded by 30-60 minute lines. We decided to take a bet with France, which appeared to have the shortest/fastest-moving line; which it did for all we could tell. The French pavilion contained many really cool innovations which I would tell you about in great detail if I had any idea what they were. I remember walking across an open area and noticing a red light following my movements on the wall. Apparently I was being tracked by some state-of-the-art French light tracking system. Not that I'm paranoid. (YOU HEAR THAT INTERWEB? I'M NOT PARANOID!!!) There was also a prototypical insulation for homes that bore a strong resemblance to plastic tubes; but I'm no French innovator, so I can't tell you for certain. France did have a fabulous presentation of the deteriorating state of the environment - both natural and cultural - that was projected onto all four walls and ceiling of a special room.

Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to see the other three pavilions. Instead, we pressed on to see Oceania and Southeast Asia. While there were a few really great pavilions, like Thailand (right), many were kind of disappointing...though that could have been because we'd been on our feet for seven hours in the hot sun.

So after these last few pavilions, we stumbled through another ten-minute line to get to the linimo - a linear motion transportation device - which bore a striking resemblance to every other subway in Nagoya, except that it was made of space-age polymers. A half-hour later we were home and stumbled inside and fell asleep, content with our non-Fuji-in-the-rain adventure.

The End.